Firelands
Firelands is one of the four domains of the Elemental Planes, occupied by the fire elementals. Background The Firelands is the molten domain forged by the Titans to house Ragnaros and his wayward minions. Following Deathwing's emergence into Azeroth, Ragnaros and his servants surged onto the slopes of Mount Hyjal before being driven back by the sacred mountain's valiant defenders. Now Ragnaros is rallying his loyalists to defend the Firelands from Azeroth's champions. The ash-choked Firelands is the least hospitable of the elemental domains. What serves as air in this harsh place is laden with scalding, noxious fumes. The only safe havens from the Firelands' ever-churning magma ocean are islands of jagged rock. Yet even the dangers of this merciless landscape pale in comparison to the raging fury of the elementals who dwell there. In the ages since the titans ordered Azeroth, the Firelands has served as a prison - not only for the mighty Firelord, Ragnaros, but also for the flame-born legions who serve him without question. The elementals had spent the innumerable years of their imprisonment reveling in the chaos innate to their being, until the Cataclysm ruptured the barriers between the Firelands and Azeroth. With the world still reeling from the disaster, Ragnaros and his minions have made it their goal to set aflame the World Tree Nordrassil, one of the remaining symbols of healing in the shattered lands of Azeroth. Victory against the Firelord's servants is a possibility, however slim. While the druids of the Cenarion Circle and their allies work to establish a permanent foothold in the Firelands at the Molten Front, brave heroes fighting under the banner of the Avengers of Hyjal hope to push through the gates of Ragnaros's lair, Sulfuron Keep, and face off against the Firelord himself. Ragnaros bristles with unfathomable powers within the safety of his bastion, a far cry from his "borrowed" sanctuary in Blackrock Mountain's Molten Core. Here, surrounded by hand-picked followers and cradled amid the sweltering heat that boils forth from the ground and sky, he is an elemental lord in his prime. If Ragnaros cannot be defeated, then a conflagration unlike anything ever seen will erupt from the Firelands and engulf the whole of Azeroth in fire and ash for millennia to come. For ages, the Elemental Plane served its purpose as a secure realm to imprison Azeroth's primordial spirits... until the Cataclysm ruptured its boundaries. Without warning, Ragnaros's armies surged toward Mount Hyjal, intent on burning the World Tree of Nordrassil to the ground. In the ensuing conflict, many brave heroes gave their lives to protect Hyjal from destruction. By their noble sacrifices, the impossible was achieved: the Guardians of Hyjal pushed Ragnaros's minions back into the Firelands. Recently, the Firelands have descended into absolute chaos in the wake of Ragnaros' death. The fallen Firelord's elemental grip had previously cowed his lesser elemental servitors into submission and following his rule. With no such leader imposed upon them, the elemental princes fought among themselves for power until the Earthen Ring stepped in and assisted the rise of Smolderon the Firelord to power as the new master of the Firelands. Smolderon's power managed to keep the Fire Elementals in line long enough to defeat the Burning Legion, defying several demonic attempts to wield the Firelands for their own gains. Smolderon recently went missing from his seat of power at Sulfuron Keep, leaving the Firelands in a state of uncertainty. With the emergence of Azerite, several Elementals have been renewed by the world-blood, and have taken it upon themselves to strike out on their own to renew the power of the Elemental planes. Ecology The ash-choked Firelands is the least hospitable of the elemental domains. What serves as air in this harsh place is laden with scalding, noxious fumes. The only safe havens from the Firelands' ever-churning magma ocean are islands of jagged rock. Yet even the dangers of this merciless landscape pale in comparison to the raging fury of the elementals who dwell there. Despite this, the apparently uninhabitable land houses an ecosystem of its own, beyond elemental beings. The fire spider brood of Beth'tilac sate their appetites by sucking the magma and fire from the corpses of elementals. They can be observed catching Molten giants and Fire hawks with their webs. The Hell hounds were the only things not being webbed or eaten by the spiders, but rather are trying to get at the spider eggs. The hellhounds can also be observed eating one of the Flamewaker trappers. The fire turtles are eating the scorpions. The local flora, which may either be native or imported and transformed by Druids of the Flame, appears to draw nutrition from molten lava. Category:Elemental Planes Category:Places Category:Planes